For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is
manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For
since the creation of the world His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that
they are without excuse,
NKJV
God expects all mankind to
recognize His existence through observation of what He
created. Inspiration says that His existence and
eternal power has been clearly evident since the
beginning of the creation. Defining the creation as the
world in which we live contained within the observable
universe. In other words, the earth, the sun, the moon,
the stars, the sky, etc, etc. God simply said "the
things that are made". We are going to call this
the universe. God said that his existence has been so
evident that all those who refuse to acknowledge this
and find themselves standing in shame before the
judgment seat will be unable to plead a case based on
ignorance of God because He has clearly shown His
eternal existence, nature and power in His creation.
God says he will not accept that as an excuse.
Now when we peel all the
layers off of this and get right down to the core issue,
do Christians have objective or subjective faith? Is
our faith objective, based on facts and not influenced
by personal feelings or, is our faith subjective, based
on feelings, attitudes, opinions and whimsical hopes?
Jesse Ventura, governor of Minnesota, made a statement
in an interview once where he said "religion is a sham
and a crutch for weak-minded people". God says this is
not true. God says that faith in His existence is
something clearly proclaimed throughout His creation and
that people like Mr. Ventura are going to have no
excuse. Everybody has faith in something. Mr. Ventura
has faith but it clearly isn't in God. The atheists
have faith that everything in the observable universe
came about as a result of naturalistic processes which
brought about the creation of everything in the
universe. So then who's faith is really based on
observable fact (objective) and who's is really based on
feelings, attitudes, opinions and whimsical hopes
(subjective)?
I will submit for
consideration that the faith based on observable facts
is the faith we should build our hopes on and not faith
based on feelings, attitudes and opinions. The purpose
of this lesson is to consider some of the basic most
fundamental facts that support our faith in God and to
see who's faith really is based in fact and who's is
only a crutch for the weak-minded. To do this we need
to keep in mind that these observable facts have been
built into God's creation since the beginning. The
first people who ever walked on the earth were expected
to be able to see this and draw the conclusion that God
existed. One would think that with all the passing
millennia and with all the technological advancements we
have and with all of our accumulated scientific
knowledge that something as apparent as God and His
eternal power, that was said to have been clearly
evident since the beginning would be all the more easy
to see today. One would certainly think that. But
obviously it is not the case. There are none so blind
as those who will not see.
To the question of whether
or not God exists we need to examine all the options
available to answer this question. When you narrow all
the variables down until nothing is left but the key
options on which the answer depends then one can usually
determine the truth from eliminating the impossible
options until only one is left. When the impossible has
been eliminated, whatever remains must be the truth.
In this instance there are fewer options available than
one would expect. To answer the question of whether or
not God exists we need to look to the origins of the
observable universe to determine the most key options.
Eliminate evolution for now which is a serious hurdle to
be sure, but before there can be any evolution, there
must first be the universe. Because without the
universe there can be no evolution. So lets go all the
way back to the existence of the universe and look at
the options we have to explain that, which must operate
within known natural laws in order to be of any value in
a factual examination.
There are laws of nature
which govern the behavior of all things. Everything in
existence is subject to these laws of nature. Some
examples of these are gravity, the laws of motion and
others. What makes a law of nature a law is that there
are no known exceptions. A law is an absolute rule. If
something which were governed by the laws of nature were
somehow found to operate outside these laws then it
would be by definition a unnatural or supernatural
occurrence.
If one is having a debate
with an atheist over creation vs evolution and they make
a statement along the lines that the physical laws we
know today were not in effect then, well.... You just
won the debate... Atheists argue evolution from a
purely naturalistic position and if they have to go
outside the laws of nature in order to make it work then
they have admitted to something unnatural, or
supernatural. Once we set aside the laws of nature in
an examination of this issue, we have just crossed the
line from a faith based on reason to a faith based on
feelings.
So with that said, let's
take a look at the only three options we have available
to answer the question of whether there is a God or not
based on the "things which are made", defined as "the
universe". First off, let's start with a basic premise
that states, if the universe was created then there must
be a creator.
The available options to
answer this question are:
1) The universe is eternal.
2) The universe was created.
3) The universe created itself out of nothing.
Lets look at option number
1, Is the universe eternal? This is a question with
only two possible answers, either yes, or no. If the
universe is not eternal then it had to have a beginning
which implies some sort of act of creation in some
fashion. If the universe is not eternal then option 1
is eliminated leaving us with only option 2 and 3 to
answer the question.
First lets define the word
eternal to be something that has always been in
existence and will always be in existence. An important
element to consider in answering the question of whether
or not the universe is eternal is found within the words
"things that were made". Paul used those words
by inspiration of God for a reason. Things that are
made all possess one common characteristic for which we
know of no exception. Things that are made are
temporary. Mankind cannot identify one single thing in
the universe that is not temporary. Things which are
not temporary are eternal, meaning, they have no
beginning or ending. We do not know of any material
thing in our universe that is eternal in existence. The
sun and the stars are all burning balls of gas which
will some time in the future be exhausted. Their fuel
supplies will eventually be exhausted and their fires
will eventually go out. Our sun gives us life. Without
it, we would perish from the earth in a very short
period of time. Our sun is not permanent. It is using
its own resources every day to sustain itself in its
present state and that fuel is not being replenished.
When that fuel runs out, it's over. Our sun cannot have
been always in existence or the fuel which sustains it
would have been long since exhausted. Our scientists
know this. This is not something that is a secret to
our astronomers. We all know that the sun and the earth
we live with are not permanent. They had a beginning
and they will have an ending. We are focusing on this
from the perspective of someone living thousands of
years ago, however looking at this from a scientific
standpoint only reinforces the notion that if those who
lived in the beginning had no excuse, we certainly don't
either.
In science we have three
laws called the laws of thermodynamics. Science likes to
use long fancy words but the meaning for this is very
elementary. thermo means heat, and dynamic means
power. So the laws of thermodynamics are the laws of
heat power. As far as science can tell, these Laws are
absolute. All things in the observable universe are
affected by and obey the Laws of heat power with no
known exceptions. We will be using the first 2 laws in
our examination of this subject.
The First Law of heat power,
commonly known as the Law of Conservation of Energy,
states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed
in nature. The total quantity of energy in the universe
remains the same. It can change from one form to
another, for example, heat can change from motion to
electricity to light, but the total amount of energy in
the universe remains constant. There is a similar law
called the Law of Conservation of Matter which states
that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a closed
system, although it may be rearranged by the application
of energy. Einstein gave us the famous formula E=mc2,
which tells us that matter can be converted into energy
and vice versa at a fixed exchange rate. The First Law
of heat power should therefore be combined with the Law
of Conservation of Matter to state that the total amount
of mass and energy in the universe remains constant.
Matter and energy are interchangeable which brings us to
the second law of heat power.
The Second Law of heat power
is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy.
"Entropy" is defined as a measure of unusable energy
within a closed or isolated system (the universe for
example). As usable energy decreases and unusable energy
increases, "entropy" increases. Simply stated, useable
energy is constantly becoming less and less available in
a closed system and will eventually run out. To
illustrate this, think of the gas that powers our cars.
The fuel burns and that energy is used. Once the fuel
is burned, part of it is converted into unusable
energy. All matter has energy. However, all energy is
not useable. Once the usable energy has been exhausted,
none remains. In the future, there will be no more gas
for our cars, there will be no more coal to burn, there
will be no more natural gas and, eventually there will
be no more sunlight. All of the useable energy in the
universe will have been exhausted. This is known as the
law of increased entropy.
What these laws teach us is
that we live in a universe that had a beginning. It had
a moment in time from which all that we can observe had
to be set in place and started. Modern science does not
dispute this fact at all. It is accepted throughout the
scientific community that our universe is not eternal.
They know this and it makes them very uncomfortable.
Why? Because we have eliminated option #1. The
universe is not eternal and there is no way to get
around it. What we have left is option 2 and option 3.
Since the universe is not eternal then it either had to
have been created or it created itself out of nothing.
There are no other options to answer the question of the
existence of God. This shouldn't be a surprise to
anyone. God expected people who lived at the beginning
of the creation to be able to figure this out on their
own. One does not have to be a 21st century rocket
scientist to see this.
What about option 3? The
universe created itself out of nothing. At face value
one would think that could be answered easily. We would
have eliminated it and have only one option left. But
science, eager to explain away the existence of God has
come up with numerous theories on how the universe might
have been able to create itself out of nothing. And
every single one of them have fallen by the way side
because of one inescapable fact. None of them can occur
without violating the natural laws which govern the
physics of the universe we live in today and scientists
have to prove a completely naturalistic origin of the
universe.
In addition to the laws of
of heat power we have the law of cause and effect. This
law states that all material effects must have an
adequate and preceding cause. A fly by itself landing
on a book is not an adequate cause to effect the falling
of that book from a table. The cause must be adequate
to accomplish the effect. And the cause must have
preceded the effect in time. There is no such thing as
a retroactive cause to an effect. We have already
determined from a scientific perspective that our
universe had a beginning so then what caused it to come
into existence? If there was nothing in existence
before the universe was caused then what caused it? In
order for there to be a cause something had to exist
before the universe did. This something was greater
than the universe, possessed more power than the sum
total of all matter and energy which made up the
universe and from looking at the way the universe is
ordered, possessed considerable intent and purpose in so
doing.
In a nutshell, if option
number 3 is true then the universe and everything in it
had to have come from nothing without an adequate
cause. Scientists know that and they don't like it.
They know that nothing creates nothing but nothingness.
They know that if our universe came about naturally that
at some point in time nothing had to create something
without cause. Option number 3 is eliminated. Why?
Because it's impossible. And it shouldn't take a
scientist to know this either. And when we eliminate
the impossible whatever remains must be the truth.
Option 1, the universe is
eternal, has been eliminated. Option 3, the universe
created itself from absolutely nothing with no cause has
been eliminated because it's impossible. There is only
one left. Option 2, the universe was created. That's
the only one of the original three options left. So,
then the next question in our search for the truth of
the existence of God is, who or what created the
universe? That's the only two options available to
answer that as well. The universe was created so it was
either created by a "who" or a "what"; a "someone" or a
"something".
Let's look at "what" may
have created the universe. We have already determined
that nothing can create something with no apparent
cause. But what about those who say "the universe was
in another form prior to this one". Ok, then what
caused it to change forms and what caused it to come
into existence? Because if it had to change forms then
it had an ending, so it was temporary just like our
universe is. Therefore it had to have a beginning just
like our universe did and in order to have that
beginning it had to have an adequate cause. We can go
on and on and on back through as many hypothetical forms
of universes as we want but in the end, if the universe
was created by something, then there has to be a first
creation from nothing with nothing with no cause. That
is an inescapable fact because every material thing in
our universe now is temporary and had a beginning
somewhere, sometime.
Our universe could not have
been created by a "what" or a "something" and remain
within the natural laws that govern the behavior of all
material things. So what about the "who"? If the
universe could not have been created by something
material and we have eliminated that as one of two
options then what remains must be the truth. It has to
be "Who". So now we have to determine the
characteristics of "who". The "who" that created the
universe had to have certain characteristics in order to
qualify.
First, whoever created the
universe had to be greater than the universe and
powerful enough to cause it to come into existence and
intelligent enough to accomplish it.
Second, whoever created the
universe has to have pre-existed all matter. The
implications of this are that whoever created the
universe cannot be a material being made of matter. He
has to exist without form or substance and he has to be
able to exist outside of our closed system universe.
Third and last, whoever
created the universe has to be an eternal being. In
order to have created anything temporary within
eternity, someone has to have lived who never had a
beginning. In order for anything temporary to exist,
someone eternal has to have existed forever.
Now it's important to keep
in mind that if someone who possessed all these
characteristics did not exist, then it would be
impossible for anything else to exist. In order for
anything material to exist, something must exist with
the intelligence, power and the ability to create it.
There is an unconfirmed
story that Sir Isaac Newton had an atheist friend with
whom he used to debate the existence of God with. They
were great friends and spent some time together. At one
point in Newton's life he acquired one of those models
of our solar system that is set up with a complex
machinery that causes all the planets and their moons to
rotate in their orbits around the sun which is in the
center. Isaac Newton was quite proud of this
acquisition and when his atheist friend came over for a
visit, Newton invited him in to see his working model of
the solar system. Upon seeing the model in action,
Newton's friend was quite enthusiastic about it and he
asked Newton who built it for him. Isaac Newton always
ready to make a point to his atheistic friend in favor
of the existence of God told him, "nobody built it for
me. It just happened naturally."
This story, whether true or
not, teaches us the basic concept that with intelligent
design there is understood the existence of an
intelligent designer. When there is order, there is
understood the existence of an organizer. If something
is created, then there must be a creator.
There is another story that
is told to illustrate a point we need to consider. God
and a man were talking one day and God says to the man,
"I made you, I created you from the dust of the earth".
The man says, "that's no big deal, I can do that too",
so he stoops down and takes a handfull of dust and God
says "Wait..... You have to use your own dust".
Hebrews 3:4 reads "For every house is builded by some
man; but he that built all things is God"
Our universe was created.
There is no doubt about it and scientists know it. They
are still struggling with whether it was created by
something or someone and the only real reason they are
doing so is because they don't want to admit it. Now to
be fair to science in general, there have been several
renowned scientists who have come forth and admitted
that something is very wrong with the naturalist
theories of the origin of the universe. Big gun
scientists who literally wrote some of the textbooks
which outline many of the scientific theories used today
have jumped ship because they have realized that there
is no other possible logical conclusion, other than a
creator, that can be drawn from the facts. For this
they are ostracized from the scientific community,
rejected as scholars and treated like superstitious
idiots. Their once famous names fade from memory and
have been replaced by new naturalist champions who tell
the people what they want to hear. Once one admits
there is a creator, what naturally follows is, what does
this creator expect of me? People don't like
expectations because that implies following someone
else's will or direction. People don't want to accept
the fact that there is a creator because they are
uncomfortable with the concept of doing His will, living
by His direction and ordering their lives around His
expectations.
We stated earlier that if
some material thing which had a beginning exists now,
that something which does not have a beginning and is
not material in the sense we know it must have existed
forever. If something is not material, then it must be
immaterial or, spiritual. Everything in the universe
can be placed in one of two categories. Matter and
energy are interchangeable so we can put them all
together into one category. On the other side, we have
all that is not material or made of matter. What is
that? The answer is.... "Mind". Everything in the
universe can be categorized as either mind or matter.
Does the mind exist outside of or independent of matter
and energy? Does the mind obey the laws of heat power
and the other physical laws of nature upon which the
behavior of everything we know depend?
A scientist by the name of
John Eccles believed that our minds were independent of
our material bodies. During his life, he set out to
prove or disprove this theory. During his studies and
experimentations he was able to determine that the human
mind can display intent, purpose and perception without
ever showing a hint of brain activity. He was able to
establish a dual existence within man's brain and he
called it man's mind. Basically our minds operates
within our brains similar to how a librarian operates
within a library. Our minds use our brains like a
librarian uses a library. It exists, works inside and
uses the brain but it is not the brain. as one would
imagine there is a lot of controversy over his findings,
however it should be noted that John Eccles received the
Nobel prize for science which lends a great deal of
credibility to his findings. That means he's hard to
argue with on the matter. He wrote a book about it
too. It's called "How the Self Controls its Brain."
What this means to us is that there is some credible
researched scientific evidence out there which points to
the reality of a mind operating independently within a
person's brain.
God says man was created in
His image (Genesis 1:27). This was never said of the
animals. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of
life and man became a living soul, (Genesis 2:7).
Again, this was never said of the animals. There is a
dual existence within man. Mankind possesses something
given to him by God which is different than anything any
animal on earth received and at the same time is similar
to something that is inherent with God or in His image.
What is that? Something with the capacity to hope, to
have compassion, to aspire, to understand morality, know
right from wrong, to reason and to live forever. we
have a mind. God is a spiritual entity existing outside
our natural boundaries. There is nothing about Him that
is material. Therefore if He gave us something in His
image it cannot be a material thing. It has to be
immaterial. We have something, given to us by God, that
exists independently of our natural boundaries.
Something material exists
today that is not eternal. In order for anything
temporary to exist, something has to have existed
forever that is not material. What is it? Mind? That
great, eternal, all powerful, all knowing, mind. Bigger
than the universe, older than time itself, intelligent
and powerful enough to create what we see around us from
nothing, possessing compassion, love, aspiration,
knowing right from wrong and possessing the ability to
reason. What some would call that great mind, I prefer
to call, my God and Creator.
We share something in common
with the Atheists. We have faith in something. We all
know that in order for something to exist now, the laws
of nature which every known thing obeys had to be set
aside. The Atheists believe in creation outside the
normal laws of nature with no explanation for cause.
Christians believe in creation outside the normal laws
of nature with the only possible explanation for the
cause. Now, who's faith is based on logical facts and
not influenced by personal feelings. And who's faith is
really subjective, or based on feelings, attitudes,
opinions and whimsical hopes? Who's faith is really a
sham and a crutch for the weak minded? Certainly not
our faith in God.
God exists, and His
existence is proclaimed loudly and plainly in the things
which are made. The Psalmist wrote, "The fool hath
said in his heart, There is no God" (Psalms 14:1). "The
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament
sheweth his handywork" (Psalms 19:1), and indeed it
does. For all who will accept it and respond to the
call. |